Of all places in the world, Kazakhstan might seem like an unlikely venue for a seminar on Solvency II, but in September I had the privilege of representing the Casualty Actuarial Society as a featured speaker at a conference given by the Actuarial Society of Kazakhstan (ASK). Sponsored by the Asian Development Bank, the seminar was themed “International Experience of the Transition to Solvency II,” and it was the fourth installment in the ASK’s program aimed at expanding actuarial expertise in the region.
News of the event reached the CAS in May 2015 when ASK Board Chair Akzharkyn Knykova contacted CAS Vice President–International Jeff Courchene about the CAS participating. Held in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, the seminar brought together speakers from the U.S., Canada and France and attracted some 20 participants from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan as well as 50 participants from Kazakhstan.
My presentation focused on bootstrap modeling and methodologies for integrating reserve variability into enterprise risk management. The presentation was an abbreviated version of a three-day seminar on stochastic modeling that Milliman developed from our work on the book Stochastic Modeling — Theory and Reality from an Actuarial Perspective, which was published by the International Actuarial Association. The full-length seminar has been given in half a dozen countries throughout Europe. For the Kazakhstan conference, however, a shortened version of the presentation was needed because of time and language constraints, which required pausing after every few sentences so that each explanation could be translated into Russian.
Other topics covered at the seminar included challenges to implementing Solvency II, reinsurance and risk management under Solvency II, investment and social security, and valuation of life insurance, among others.
What was perhaps the most striking about the discussions were not the differences but the similar challenges that actuaries in this region of the world face. Like so many other actuaries, attendees were concerned about pricing adequacy, reserve variability, data quality and many other commonly discussed matters. The issues that they confront aren’t really very much different from the issues that actuaries face anywhere else in the world; only the culture is different.
The sponsors’ warm welcome was also impressive, as all the lecturers were invited to a guided tour of the area and an after-conference dinner. From the pre-dinner toasts to the traditional food to the singing, the evening was a complete submersion into Kazakh culture. Each guest was expected to make a toast, which occasionally were about learning opportunities but more often about meeting new people and forming new friendships. Language was never a barrier. Even though most of the toasts and conversation were in Russian, other guests who spoke English were very gracious to translate the conversation to English, so I felt a part of the evening. The warmth and openness of the Kazakh people gave me a strong sense of community and collegiate purpose.
Mark R. Shapland, FCAS, FSA, MAAA, is a frequent speaker at CAS meetings and is co-presenter of the CAS Limited Attendance Seminar on Reserve Variability. He is a senior consultant for Milliman in their Dubai, UAE office.
